Step 4: Add dirt below the land

Step 5: Use your imagination!

Ok now that you have your plot of land you can do anything with it! Yay! The same rule applies to making anything (2 left/right 1 up/down) Make sure y...

Now, I found it very odd that no one on this site ever attempted to make a instructable on making/doing/drawing pixel art. This instructable will take ou through the simple steps of making isometric drawings using pixels! oooh big words :)

Step 1: Learn the rule!

Ok there is only one rule for pixel art and thats the 2 right/left 1 up/down rule! Try making whats in the screenshot I took without looking and copying it just follow the rule.

Make sure you use the pencil tool if your wondering and zoomed in to %1600

Step 2: Duplicate and Link

Now tha tyou have a diamond, your going to select it with the selctor tool thing and copy it to a new layer. Once its in the new layer, merge it (cntrl + e) and draw a line witht he pencil tool to connect it as shown in the screen shot.

Step 3: Color your plot of land!

Ok so you have a pixel frame...now you need to color it. Pick 3 shades of green, one lighter than the other and color the top lightest, right side slightly darker, and left side darkest. You can either use the pencil for this or the paint bucket. I had some trouble with the paint bucket so i used pencil

Step 4: Add dirt below the land

Before I continue, I would just like to state that if you wanted to do an actual pixel art picture, your plot of land would be MUCH MUCH larger.

Ok so now lets add some dirt :DDo the same thing below the land but make it only like 8 pixels lower.

Making your land larger is easy too. Just duplicate the layers, arrange them in a square, and merge them (cntrl + e)

Although this is a great tutorial, it feels a little... underwhelming for a $400+ piece of software. You can do everything in this tutorial using MS Paint. You also don't really need layers for pixel art. But it's a nice tutorial for anyone interested in the art of smallness!

Don't use Limewire for anything! There are much better ways to download and share files (Torrents). Photoshop is great but like CyberBill Said, there are many free alternatives. Paint.net is ok and GIMP is an excellent photoshop replacement as well. Two other Photoshop-like programs I recommend are Pixlr and Phoenix which are both free and browser based. There is no need to pirate software when there are so many free and open-source solutions. Respect the coders and designers!!!!!

That comment was 3 years old. What makes it necessary to reply to it when we already have a reply saying what you just said? 1: Reply to 3 year old comments 2: State what has already been said 3: ??????? 4: Profit

Please do not be a jerk and download pirated software. I am a computer programmer and feed my family by selling software, if you dont have the cash and you want a good image editing program there are a lot of free alternatives. Some that I like are Paint.net ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.getpaint.net">http://www.getpaint.net</a> ) or GIMP.<br/>

I'm sorry, I'm not saying that what he said is right, but... you're a programmer and you feed your family by selling software -- and your promoting Open Source stuff? I'm confused! On a different note, what language(s) do you use? I'm trying to learn to code, and I'm not sure where to start, although I have a feeling it'll be python. Thanks!

If I was a programmer writing image editing software, I would certainly point him in the direction of my software. :) For the record, I write video games, which are pirated a LOT. I wrote a game, Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest for the PSP, and it was pirated on newsgroups pretty heavily. I was angry to say the least! I write 95% of my code in C/C++, with a little C# thrown in for tools development. For a recommendation on what language to learn, it really depends on what you want to write. There is no way I could be writing video games in any language other than C/C++, not unless I'm doing java-based cellphone games or flash based web games. Feel free to send me a pm if you want some info :)

The problem is probably with the way you saved your pic. You probably saved it as a .jpeg. Instead save it as a 24 bit bitmap (.bmp). To bad you can't fix it 'cause once it gets that way there is no going back. :(

and this is what i have so far the stuff in the corner is were i keep stuff i use a lot like land windows and doors and road and side walk and i didt have the program so i used paint insteat and it workesd really well

I dont have any Idea how you could of actuily used paint for this. In some ways I can see it being easyer... But overall I see Photobucket being the best and easyest espacily if you use the layers to your advantage. For example if you make a mistake you can easly fix it without screwing up the other layers.

hmm.... sorry to say SniperTofu, but that rule you made is not true for Pixel Art, also the name of this guide is wrong... It gives you a feel that this would be about pixel art, when this is really about a sub-part of pixel art, called isometric pixel art. So you should add somewhere that this guide is for Isometric pixel art only, anyways, good guide, though a little short. I recommend adding part about round things, like spheres and arches.

If you really like pixel-art, check this out. I received it as a present about a year ago and it is very cool to look at and get an idea for your own characters. Obviously, the main goal of pixel-art (in general, people in particular) is to try to reduce the details down to the least amount needed to recognize the picture.